Culture plays key role in nation building

Norway has included culture in its development cooperation agenda

Published on 16 October 2011

Author(s): Sunday Monitor/Thorbjørn Gaustadsæther

Type:  News Originally published 30 Sept 2011

These are exciting times for Norway-Uganda/East-Africa cooperation. The Umoja Cultural Flying Carpet (CFC) festival is ongoing – consisting of a range of events with participation from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Norway. Umoja CFC embodies a number of elements on the importance of cultural cooperation as an integral part of development cooperation.

For many years, Norway has included culture in its development cooperation agenda, illustrating the importance of culture as a development tool to the Nordic countries.

The overriding objective of this is to strengthen the cultural sector in the South and thus strengthen civil society and help it become a change agent and driving force in our efforts to create a more transparent and democratic society. Subsidiary objectives include: a free and varied cultural sector, strengthened cultural infrastructure, North–South and South–South cooperation between cultural actors, increased respect for human rights in general and freedom of expression in particular.

In 2005, the Norwegian Government launched its Strategy for Norway’s Culture and Sports Co-operation with countries in the South (2005-2014). An underlying message of the strategy is that despite the fact that efforts in the field of culture are extensive and multiple, they should never be random. In order to avoid randomness, the strategy underlines that the work we do in the area of culture should be goal-oriented, professional, long term and have local ownership.

Why this emphasis on culture and cultural cooperation?

First, cultural cooperation is one of the most equality-oriented forms of cooperation that exist. “Development assistance” is more and more often replaced by “development cooperation”, and “partners” is frequently used instead of “donors and recipients”. This move was spearheaded by the cultural sector, which early started moving beyond traditional development assistance with a clear donor and recipient. This makes perfect sense as cultural collaboration takes as its starting point something that the “recipients” have, and not something that they are lacking!

Second, culture is tightly connected with identity. Identity expressed through culture is a necessity for all human development. It creates the fundamental building blocks in our personality and in the ties that link us to communities and nation. Culture is embedded in both the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (Art. 27) and in the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Art. 1 and 15).

Third, culture plays a natural part in a development policy that is serious about human rights. A free and strong cultural sector will promote other rights and values such as freedom of expression, diversity and debate about needs in society. While culture is essential for the freedom of expression, equally important is the link between freedom of expression and democratisation.

Fourth, culture can contribute to other development goals. This is now being emphasised in documents concerning the Millennium Development Goals. In particular, culture may promote economic growth. In 2010, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development published a report about creative business areas such as cultural heritage, music, arts, architecture and marketing. The report shows that these are among the most dynamic fields globally. The encounter between creativity, technology, culture and economy embodies a great potential in creating work places and increasing exports, at the same time as it contributes to social inclusion, diversity and development.

Fifth, cultural collaboration is not about big money and investments but rather about “soft ware” – ideas, experience, imagination, dreams and about human creative power. The dialogue, the human being and the time factor are essential elements of the efforts. Cultural cooperation is good development cooperation because of its emphasis on multicultural dialogue. Such dialogue is a prerequisite for successful cooperation in other fields.

Sixth, culture is politics. There are few things that are as powerful as culture. Culture ensures unity during crisis, influences identity, debate and dialogue. It is important for nation building and for peace and reconciliation. In some cases it inspires change, in others stability. Further, it can open doors, and close them. Culture is hard and soft politics at the same time!

Finally, culture has its very own value! Culture should sometimes be allowed to be only culture.

UMOJA CFC is a product of the Norwegian Council of Cultural Schools and is created upon the vision of promoting peace and development through international cultural networking. The national ensembles of the East African countries and Norway have now come together in Kampala to develop and promote skills, to gain cultural understanding and respect, to stimulate cross-over work and create artistically interesting results. Today, the 80 artists will perform together in the brand new International UMOJA show at the Ndere Centre.

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